Susquehanna Art Museum needs $900K for construction

By Jason Scott,
November 20, 2012 at 11:00 AM
- Last modified: November 20, 2012 at 11:11 AM

A rendering shows the planned Susquehanna Art Museum at North Third and Calder streets in Harrisburg. Illustration/Submitted

The Susquehanna Art Museum expects to break ground in the next 90 days on its permanent home along North Third and Calder streets in Midtown Harrisburg, officials said today.

SAM has $6.1 million of a needed $7 million to start construction, including $5.5 million from the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, also known as RCAP, and Growing Greener funds.

The public phase of a capital campaign kicked off today in search of the remaining $900,000. The museum’s board also is hoping to raise an additional $5 million for an endowment, said M. David Hughes, a museum spokesman.

Once construction begins, it should take about 10 to 12 months to complete, he said.

“It invigorates the area even more so,” said Hughes, citing recently completed projects in Midtown, including the mixed-use 1500 Project and nearby COBA Apartments. “What GreenWorks (Development) has been able to do is amazing.”

GreenWorks has invested more than $50 million in Midtown since it was founded in 2005, CEO Doug Neidich said. The Harrisburg-based company’s projects include the Midtown Cinema, Evangelical Press Building and Campus Square Building.

Harrisburg’s first dedicated art museum will be a two-story, roughly 17,000-square-foot building.

The museum will serve as a borrowing institution from other major art museums. Previously, SAM operated galleries with local artwork at its Third and Market streets location in the Kunkel building. It also hosted rented, traveling exhibits and hosted art programs.

GreenWorks bought the new museum site a few years ago when a Fulton Bank branch moved down the street to Third and Reily streets. GreenWorks redeveloped a Civil War-era building for Fulton, then reinvested in the bank’s former site to develop in the future.

The developer is part of the construction team, Hughes said. Chester County-based Carrollton Design Build is the construction manager on the project. EwingCole, a Philadelphia-based architecture and engineering firm, is the architect.

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Jason Scott

Jason Scott covers state government, real estate and construction, media and marketing, and Dauphin County. Have a tip or question for him? Email him at jasons@cpbj.com. Follow him on Twitter, @JScottJournal.
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